Beginnings
by DoubleBoxEven
Summary: The story of Kanata and Sojiro Izumi, as well as the story of Yui and Yutaka Kobayakawa's parents, how they fell in love, and the great things that came of it.


Beginnings

Chapter 1- The Meeting

"Ani-chaaaan..."

Little Yuki Izumi shook her big brother while calling for the hundredth time. Their morning ritual already in full swing while Sojiro snored on, trying his best to ignore the pair of hands rocking him, and the tiny voice calling out to him.

"Ani-chan!" She called again very loudly while shaking her brother as hard as she could, finally being rewarded by a groan as her big brother rolled over and looked at her in an annoyed manner saying, "Yuki, just leave me alone already, I was up all night, and don't feel like waking up now."

The little girl took a look around the blue haired boy's room, it was a mess with stacks of manga and clothes haphazardly laying about on the floor. She looked up to her big brother again as her face puffed up cutely in anger, before she said, "No way! You said we were going to the park today! You said we were going to play!"

Sojiro sighed as he idly consider poking his little sister's puffed up cheeks, and wondering why she couldn't be a cuter little sister like in the manga in his super-not-so-secret closet stash. Here he was, Twelve years old, and he didn't even have a girlfriend despite being one of the few boys willing to admit he was into girls at his age, much less one of the ones willing to be publicly seen with a girlfriend.

Sojiro's thoughts returned to his sister, who was still glaring up at him. His little sister's light red hair and birthmark under her left eye could be cute if she would only apply proper makeup, maybe tie her hair up, and of course stop acting like such a spoiled brat. Then again, he considered how she was only eight years old, and guessed she wasn't quite ready to be doing stuff like that just yet.

Yuki was small even for her age, and her salmon colored hair was something of an oddity since neither parent had anyone in their family with that hair color. The birth mark was inherited from their father, both of them had it, and their mom constantly teased the three of them about how cute it was that they shared it.

One last groan as he remembered his lost sleep, and he said, "Fine let me get dressed, and then we'll go."

The blue haired boy flung his blanket to the side revealing himself to be only wearing his boxers, which caused his little sister to squeak, and cry out while blushing, "Ani-chan you pervert! Don't show your little sister those kinds of things!"

Sojiro chuckled as he herded his sister out of the room, saying, "What, you've never seen underwear before?"

Her response was cut off by him closing the door after lightly pushing her out. Now alone, Sojiro went about his morning task of taking up all his clothes and putting them in a pile in the corner of his room, and putting his various toys and reading materials in their place perfectly organized on his big bookshelf.

Sojiro really didn't look the type, but he was an avid reader, and secretly hoped he could be a writer himself someday. He read everything from manga to historical literature, and had even started reading some English science fiction novels that were pretty popular by a man named Orson Scott Card.

After straightening up everything the blue haired kid turned to his closet, and ignored his tempting box of adult material sitting there in the back corner, and instead focused on what he would wear for the day. He would be out with his little sister so there was no need to dress to impress since he definitely wouldn't be able to pick up a girlfriend while Yuki was tailing him everywhere.

He settled on some tan cargo pants, and a blue t-shirt with no decorations. Sojiro figured he might as well be comfortable if he was going to be walking around for the rest of the day. Putting the clothes on, he could hear Yuki downstairs probably complaining about his behavior to their mother who would undoubtedly laugh, and say, "He's at that age now Yuki."

After finishing up, he grabbed his wallet, as well as a pen and his little notepad in case inspiration struck while he was out, and left his room heading downstairs while hoping breakfast was already waiting on him.

Sojiro's hopes were realized as he entered their kitchen to see a bowl of miso soup and some white rice waiting on him. Yuki and his mother were already waiting at the table so they could begin eating once he joined them.

Sojiro's mother was taller than average standing at five feet, and six inches she was only an inch shorter than their father. Things Sojiro noted about her was her always perfectly white teeth, her large breasts, her brown eyes and her waist length green hair. He was aware that he had a pretty mom, and a few other boys around his age in the area had also made it apparent that they were aware he had a pretty mom.

Sojiro sat down next to his little sister, and began eating. It was silent for the first couple bites, but after Sojiro looked over at his mother he saw her suppressing laughter.

He asked her, "What's so funny, mom, you're not going to tease us again, are you?"

His mother let her chuckle out at that, and said, "I see you finally managed to pull yourself out of bed Soji-kun."

"I hate it when you call me that, it's like a little kid's nickname," he responded.

Yuki quickly responded in a manner detached from Sojiro's and his mother's usual morning ritual, "Ani-chan, you should show our mother more respect."

Sojiro rounded on Yuki for that, and asked pleadingly, "What about you Yuki-chan? When are you going to start calling me Onii-chan?"

His little sister looked up to him in very convincing mock confusion, obviously learned from their mother, and responded innocently, "But doesn't the O symbolize respect Ani-chan?"

Sojiro faked crying as he responded, "Why always so harsh, Yuki-chan?"

Their mother laughed, and said, "So, what's everyone's plans for today?"

Yuki and Sojiro looked at each other for a tense moment, and then back to their mother and responded at the same time,

"I'm going to play at the park!"

"I'm going to find a girlfriend!"

Their mother raised an eyebrow, and responded, "I see. Soji-kun, and how do you propose you're going to watch your sister if you're flirting with everything in a skirt?"

There was a dangerous tone in his mother's voice, she didn't like the thought of her son being taken away from her by some random young girl at all. He and Yuki-chan were still her babies in her mind. Sojiro pointed his finger accusingly, and said loudly, "Hey! You asked asked for my plans! You didn't say anything about what was actually going to happen!"

His mother sighed, and said, "Fine. You two are going to the park today, so I guess I'll just go to the new aquarium by myself."

Both children stared at her with their mouths agape. They both loved going to see sharks at places like that. They both stuttered for a moment before Yuki managed to say quickly, "We'll change plans, we'll change plans!"

Their mother chuckled at them once more before letting a vicious smile slowly form on her face. She then said, "I lied, there's no new aquarium."

Both children were shocked, and their mother got up from the table heading towards the sink with her breakfast dishes as if nothing had happened. Sojiro stood up, and declared loudly, "You're evil!"

Yuki then chimed in saying, "No fair Mom!"

"See? You just crushed a little girl's dream!" Sojiro continued.

Their mother stopped when she heard the accusation, she then slowly turned to face them as an evil smile crossed her face, and she said, "Heh."

With that their mother turned back towards the sink, and began washing dishes. This sort of thing was nothing new, as all of them were well aware that they were all weirdos. They each had their own little quirks, except for Sojiro's father who was the normal guy in the family. The blue haired kid often wondered if his father had known what he was marrying when he had started their family.

Finishing his soup off, Sojiro followed his mother's example and washed his dishes, being quickly followed by his little sister. He knew once they left the house she would enter shadow mode as usual. Shadow mode was where she pretty much stuck behind him as inseparable as his own shadow. Nothing he did or said would make her leave him alone, but he supposed that came with the territory of having younger siblings.

After waiting on Yuki to finish he counted the remaining money he had in his wallet. Sojiro sighed as there wasn't much left, and his allowance seemed a long way off. Closing his flat wallet, he put it in his back pocket, and studied Yuki-chan humming while washing the last of the dishes. She seemed quite pleased with herself as she looked up out the window over the sink at the clouds floating by, and the blue haired kid allowed himself to think for a moment that maybe he _did_ have a cute little sister.

Despite her aggravating him constantly, he was very proud of being a big brother, and loved Yuki very much, despite her sometimes adopting their mother's blunt mannerisms. She turned the kitchen faucet off, and Sojiro placed a hand on her head and ruffled her hair, saying, "Alright, kid, let's go."

Yuki pumped a fist into the air, and exclaimed, "Yeah! Let's go Ani-chan."

As she hurried to the door, she never saw the twin waterfalls coming from Sojiro's eyes at the utter lack of respect. As the young man set forward after his little sister, waving a quick farewell to his mother, Sojiro thought to himself, "One day I'll be surrounded by women who aren't so brutal."

The bright sun dazzled the young Otaku's vision as he emerged from his home. For a moment he could only see white, and then Yuki's light red hair came into focus followed by the green grass blanketing their little yard. Sojiro took a few moments to memorize how all this felt in case he ever wrote a similar scene in a story later on. He felt it would be better to describe from personal experience and already he was imagining a young man emerging from underground after a very long time into a world he had no idea of.

"Ani-chan...you're spacing out again," came Yuki's annoyed voice.

"Crap," Sojiro thought to himself. He had promised himself he'd make it out of the yard today before he started daydreaming. He quickly apologized, and set off for the gate in front of their house. He unlatched it, and walked out into the little street in front of their home, and waited for Yuki to follow, and re-latch the black iron gate.

Sojiro stretched for a moment feeling the warm summer sun on his exposed neck. It felt good to get out every once in a while, and Yuki was almost bouncing with excitement as they began their trek towards the park about two miles from their home. Sure it was a decent sized walk, and their mom could have easily driven, but they both enjoyed looking at everything as they walked, so they decided it was better that way.

They took a right off their street, and joined the little crowd out strolling on the pleasant day. There was a brisk wind that kept lifting up little strands of Yuki's hair, and Sojiro had no doubt in his mind there would be plenty of colorful kites down at the park today. If they were cheap he would rent one for Yuki to play with while he watched her...well...maybe he would have a little fun with it too. After all, even if he was a young man, for now at least he could still be a kid.

The low hum of ambient conversation made a nice backdrop to their own talking about their plans when school started back. Sojiro told Yuki he was thinking about joining the literature club and Yuki complained about having more homework with every new year of school. As they talked about their friends, by coincidence one of them happened to join their crowd as they walked across an intersection before turning eastward towards the park.

Yuki spotted him first, as she always was quicker to notice things like that since Sojiro tended to get distracted by the things around him. This trait he shared with the young brown haired man who was walking with a slumped posture a few feet away from them. As the young man walked he seemed oblivious to everyone around him, and even seemed to be muttering to himself about something.

"Koji-kun!" shouted Yuki as she ran over to the young man.

True to his character, Koji never even looked towards the person calling his name until she tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to face Yuki and Sojiro with a confused look on his face as he pushed up his large glasses. After a moment he recognized them, and said gently as was his manner, "Yuki-chan, Sojiro, good to see the both of you here. Are you out enjoying the weather?"

Yuki nodded enthusiastically, and responded, "Yeah, Ani-chan is taking me to the park to play."

He chuckled and grinned just enough that Yuki caught the faintest glimpse of his white teeth, and said, "That's nice. Although you'd think that kind of treatment would have finally earned him the O."

Yuki folded her arms, and puffed her cheeks again, saying in an annoyed tone, "You're on that too?"

This earned another quiet chuckle from Koji. Sojiro chose not to enter the conversation just yet, still watching the two of them. He knew Yuki had a big crush on Koji, and Sojiro himself had been friends with Koji since their first year of school. He as pretty much the only boy besides Sojiro and his father that Yuki would ever talk to, so it was only natural she had developed a crush.

Koji Kobayakawa was a little taller than Sojiro, and he wore very thick glasses thanks to having Strabismus, he would always need to wear them. He had long brown hair which was currently tied back in a ponytail going about halfway down his back. Sojiro often wondered about his friend's hair length since most children weren't allowed to grow their hair out that long, and later on he knew many high schools would require him to cut it to conform to their dress code.

Despite the heat, he was wearing black jeans and a black t-shirt, but either he didn't notice the heat or the odd kid chose to ignore it. Koji's thoughts were always bogged down in some topic or another, and nobody could ever guess what he was thinking. Sojiro, however, had been around the young man long enough to know that he was actually a very proper, if strange person. He guessed his baby sister could have chosen a much worse person to crush on.

Sojiro decided to join them, and placed his hand on Koji's shoulder, saying, "'Sup? So, do you want to hang out with us today Koji? It'd be pretty lame with just Yuki tailing me all day."

Yuki of course brightened up at the thought, and said, "Yeah Koji-kun! You should come with us!"

Koji seemed to be struggling with a response for a few moment, and when he finally spoke up he said, "Hmmmm... I think I'm supposed to be running an errand right now, but I seem to have forgotten exactly what it was. I'm sure it won't hurt anything to go with you guys at least until I remember."

Yuki put a palm to her forehead, and responded, "If _you_ forgot it Koji, then it's gone. You can't ever remember anything."

He responded, "Hey, that isn't very nice."

Sojiro chuckled at his friend's mild response to the teasing, and Yuki continued, "I swear, you would lose your glasses if they weren't like permanently attached to your face."

"But they're not attached," the brunette responded taking his black metal rimmed glasses off to emphasize.

Yuki's response was another facepalm.

Sojiro smiled, Koji may have been a couple months older than him, but the blue haired boy always sort of felt like Koji was a younger brother. At the very least Sojiro had to constantly look after him to make sure he didn't run into walls or something while the brunette was lost in thought.

With their trio completed the three continued onward to the park. Koji would occasionally mutter about something that was puzzling him, things ranging from cloud shapes to how blue hair was even possible naturally. Most of the talking was done between Sojiro and Yuki. That's how it usually was anyways since their companion rarely surfaced from his thoughts until someone was speaking directly to him, or something caught his interest.

The two siblings walked beside Koji who was walking slower than them even though he had the longest legs. This obviously annoyed Yuki since she was incredibly impatient, but she seemed to calm down after a couple minutes at their now slower pace as she began to look into shop displays. Little Yuki saw a display of porcelain dolls in one window and giggled, remarking how creepy they were.

The next shop after that had a display of junior idol videos right in the window, and Yuki had to drag Sojiro by the arm to get him moving from them. The two passed right by Koji who's lack of presence almost made him invisible as he was busy looking at a display of knick-knacks. Particularly a little stuffed monkey with a red top hat.

Sojiro and Yuki leaned over on either side of him also eying the strange monkey. Neither of them saw anything particularly great about it, and were about to remark on that topic when Koji said, "I wonder...Do you think the top hat makes him more of a gentleman?"

Sojiro chuckled, and Yuki responded, "Geez. You really think of some dumb stuff, huh?"

Koji grunted a response that could have been an affirmation or a declination, and began walking onwards with his slow gait without clarifying.

At their pace it took about half an hour more to reach the park, where there were many families out enjoying the weather. The grass was a vibrant green soaking up the sun with joy, and the smells of people cooking were all over as children ran from family to family gathering as many friends to play with as they possibly could.

Sojiro in particular paid attention to the scenery, of course it was all research counting towards his future hopeful occupation. He needed to gather as many sights, smells, and sounds as he possibly could to give all his information a variety. Of course if he happened to be particularly good at describing the way the occasional girl's skirt flipped a little in the wind, it could just be chalked up to plenty of time observing things, and the young man would never deny being more than a bit of a pervert.

Yuki exhaled loudly, as she raised a hand over her eyes to block the sun's glare and shouted loudly, "Awesome!"

She had spotted the different kites flying as Sojiro had expected. What he hadn't expected was for there to be so many different types. It seemed as if they were having some kind of special kite event. He saw some Box kites with their flaps billowing heavily from catching the wind, and even a large dragon kite made up of many different colored streamers, and piloted by three people.

The kid in him couldn't help but grin as he saw it. Even Koji looked up and joined in their moment as he noticed the other two quit walking beside him, and remarked, "It's nice, isn't it?"

Yuki responded, "Yeah, I really love the big kites, I kind of wish I could grab on to one and go flying myself."

The brunette responded, "Hang Gliding you mean?"

"No Koji, not like that! Don't ruin the image," Yuki retorted before sinking back into her mental image of herself laying relaxed on the top of a big kite, almost like she would in her own bed, and looking around at the whole city from her vantage point.

The blue haired kid put his hands on Yuki's shoulders, and said, "A sign back at the entrance said we can rent one for 800 yen, so do you want to get one?"

Yuki's eyes sparkled as she nodded fervently, and the older brother headed towards a small building on the side of the white cemented path to see about picking one out. Yuki and Koji were right behind him. Yuki said loudly, "I want the one shaped like the kitty."

Sojiro groaned, and replied, "I don't know, I was thinking more like the alien head one."

"No way! That one's lame, the kitty is much cuter, right Koji?" responded Yuki, looking at Koji who was already handing money over, and accepting a kite made to look like Onigiri.

Both Yuki and Sojiro made annoyed slits of their eyes as Yuki asked him, "Why?..."

Koji inspected his kite for a few moments before he responded, "Hungry..."

With that he turned and headed towards the nearest hill at his aggravatingly casual pace as Yuki said to her brother, "He could have just bought some food..."

Sojiro chuckled, and said teasingly, "Hey, you're the one who has a crush on him."

His little sister instantly turned red, and spouted loudly, "I do not! Stupid Ani-chan!"

The clerk, a young woman interrupted them, saying, "So, which two kites are you kids getting?"

Yuki looked up to her brother in confusion and asked, "Huh? Two? Do you have enough money for that?"

Sojiro did have enough money, but it would have left him broke, so he wasn't going to rent two, but the clerk said, "Well, that young man just paid for three, I assumed since you were all here at the same time he was buying for all of you."

The two siblings looked after Koji who was still only halfway to the closest hill, and Yuki said quietly, "I guess he's kind of nice."

Sojiro nodded, although he had told Koji plenty of times not to spend money on him without asking. A moment later though, Sojiro and Yuki both had the kites they had wanted, and were marching up towards Koji who was now an incredible three quarters of the way to the hill. They managed to catch up to him before he reached the top.

They both thanked Koji as the three looked for an empty spot on the top of the hill where they could get their kites in the air. The wind was blowing pretty hard, so Sojiro really doubted they would have much trouble getting the kite into the air. Finding a clearing Sojiro went first running the length of the vacancy, and tossing his alien head kite into the air. The wind gusted right as he threw it, and his twine quickly began unraveling from the spindle in his hand as the kite went up higher and higher. When it was a good fifty feet up Sojiro put his finger on the twine to keep it from going any farther.

Yuki went next copying her older brother's motions and her kite was quickly raised up alongside his. The two looked expectantly back at Koji as he raised his kit over his head like they had done, and began running. Koji managed to take three long steps up the incline at his run before he tripped and fell face first, his kite tumbling down on top of him.

Neither could believe he had failed something so simple. Yuki looked over at her big brother, and said, "It's sad that there's another guy around, and you're still the manliest in the group."

Sojiro's waterfalls made another appearance. Yuki was harsh even to the people she had crushes on apparently. Koji stood up, and tried again, managing to get his Onigiri kite in the air on his second attempt. He reeled it outwards until the distance matched Yuki and Sojiro's kites. Then he sighed, and said, "It's relaxing like fishing. I wonder if a bird might mistake my kite for a snack, and try and fly off with it?"

Sojiro responded, "I don't think they actually make Onigiri that big..."

Yuki said, "Even birds know that..."

The conversation lapsed as the three watched their kites drift lazily about for a few minutes. Sure the competition kites were way more impressive, but it also felt really cool to have your own kite up there too. Kind of like you accomplished something by having it fly so high. It was almost as if by extension they were the ones flying high and free.

Sojiro's gaze wandered around even as Koji and Yuki focused completely on their kites, lost in their calm. The young writer, however wanted to see everything the park had to offer. Just holding his kite wouldn't keep him occupied all day like it might the other two. Even so he managed to stay wrapped up in his kite flying for fifteen minutes before he grabbed a small stone and sat it on his spindle to keep the kite from flying away.

Yuki looked over to Sojiro, and said, "Are you going somewhere Ani-chan?"

Sojiro responded, "I'm going to walk around for a few minutes, and see if I can find something else that's fun to do. I'll come get you guys if I find something."

Yuki nodded to her older brother, and went back to kite gazing. She didn't mind being alone with Koji since he had been around them so much he was almost like a big brother to her as well. Still, she liked it a lot better when all three of them were together since she was a firm believer in the fact that you could have more fun with more people you cared about.

Sojiro walked down the hill the way they had come up it, and was soon on the white cement path again. He started strolling deeper into the park looking at all the people there. He loved people watching. Learning different quirks that people had in real life might also make his characters more believable. He got distracted as he walked when he noticed a large breasted woman in a low cut shirt bending down to get some food out of a picnic basket, and it was during this particular lapse in his attention that he felt a large bump as he walked straight into another person.

For a moment all he could see was blue hair, but a second later the small girl in front of him looked up at him with her eyes making a cross on her face as she spouted, "Oh! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going, and I didn't mean to run into you!"

The girl was in a white dress and had a yellow straw hat on her head, and it was pretty cute how she was waving her arms rapidly up at him as she apologized over and over. The blue haired boy put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down, and said, ""It's fine, it's fine. I wasn't paying attention either, so no need to apologize."

The girl looked like she was Yuki's age, and Sojiro saw as she opened her big green eyes, that she was actually petty cute. He absentmindedly wondered if the strong wind that day might flip her dress up once in a while, but quickly refocused on the girl in front of him, who was now regarding him very seriously.

After a couple moments of her staring with that intent expression, he scratched his birthmark absently, and said, "Is there something wrong?"

"Jiiiiiiiiii..."

The girl continued to stare at him, and as he looked down on her he said the first thing that came to his mind to break the awkwardness, "You sure are small, huh?"

The girls mouth made a little triangle in shock as she responded in an annoyed tone, "I am not! I mean...I'll get bigger eventually! I mean...that's not very nice!"

"Neither is just staring at people you know," responded the young man.

The blue haired girl regained her composure, and said, "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be doing that again, it's just that I don't get outside very much, so I always get caught up just looking at things when I do."

Sojiro responded, "I see. I'm the same way. Except I always stare at things so I can describe them better."

The girl looked puzzled, and asked, "Why would you need to describe things better?"

A triumphant grin spread across Sojiro's face as he flipped his pen out of his pocket, and twirled it between his fingers saying excitedly, "Hardly anybody knows this, but one day I'm going to be one of the greatest Author's ever!"

The blue haired girl's eyes lit up as she said excitedly, "Oh, that's really cool! Do your very best, okay!

Sojiro responded, "Of course I will."

The conversation ended, but the girl was still there, staring at him. The young man felt his stomach tense up a little under that stare, it wasn't often...actually...it wasn't _ever_ a cute girl watched him so intently. Sojiro asked her through his sudden nervousness, "So...you here with anyone?"

She responded, "Well I came here with my daddy, but he got a business call and had to leave. He gave me some money and said to enjoy my day at the park while I'm still feeling well...so no, I'm not with anyone right now."

Sojiro grinned, it was finally his chance to be with a pretty girl for a day, he asked her, even though his stomach felt like it was turning inside out at this point, "So...do you want to hang around with me for a while. We can find something fun to do together, or go get some ice cream or something."

The smaller girl blushed a little, suddenly nervous now that a strange boy was asking to spend time with her, but she nodded, and said happily, "Yeah, that sounds like a lot of fun, let's go."

They began walking in the direction Sojiro had been heading, Sojiro's eyes already scanning for an ice cream shop when he realized he had done something stupid, and stopped, facing the girl again. He told her, "By the way. My Name's Sojiro Izumi, it's nice to meet you, and what's your name?"

The girl giggled both at his nervousness, and also at her own before responding, "My name is Kanata. Kanata Mijikai."

Sojiro laughed aloud at that to the smaller girl's annoyance, as she said loudly, "Don't you even make fun of that!"

This only made Sojiro smile even wider as they set off, determined to find fun together.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Finally another story up. I haven't quite decided exactly what I want out of this story yet, but if enough people want it, I'll be tempted to turn it into a Prequel for Beyond friendship. That however is unimportant, I don't care about making a series so much as a story most people enjoy, so send your critiques my way and don't hold back.<p>

A couple things to address in this chapter, the first being Yuki. I remember at some point in the manga Sojiro mentioned a Yuki-chan when saying, "Yuki-chan would never forgive me if I turned Yutaka into an Otaku." In the notes on the side of the page it mentioned that Yuki was Sojiro's little sister, so I didn't make up her name, but since I think that's the only reference to her in the manga I had to make up her personality.

Next is Koji, basically I wanted to try an have a core group of four people like lucky Star does, and maybe bring in some other friends later, but focus on my main four, I made him because I felt his personality would match well Sojiro's as a friend.

Also there are going to be a few OCs in this. Mainly because most of the LS cast isn't born yet here, so they'll just have to be there. Hopefully I can make some OCs that are actually tolerable.

Then there was Kanata at the end. I looked all over, and couldn't find an official maiden name for her anywhere, so someone please send me a message pointing it out if you know of it, but for now I've made it "Mijikai."

The reason Sojiro laughs at that, and Kanata says not to make fun of it is because Mijikai means short in Japanese, I thought it was pretty funny myself.

Anyways, thanks for reading, I have no idea how long this will be or how frequently I can update, but I'll try my best to make it a good story. I'll also try and make sure my future Author's notes aren't so long.


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